Drawn by the gravitational pull of a video that tugs at the heartstrings, Canada’s space superhero Chris Hadfield is coming to Windsor Sept. 23 to spend time with young cancer patients.

The in-demand astronaut, who enjoyed celebrity status earlier this year with his clever use of social media and stunning photography posted on Twitter while orbiting the Earth, was lured to Windsor Regional Hospital’s pediatric oncology unit through an equally clever use of social media by local fans.

A slickly produced yet touching video that features Windsor kids fighting cancer was recently posted on YouTube. “You’re Our Hero,” states one placard addressed to Hadfield and held up by a cancer patient, while another group of smiling youngsters hoists a sign that tells viewers, “We are some of the survivors.”

The Sarnia native, who commanded the International Space Station earlier this year on his third space mission, viewed the self-described “out-of-this-world invite” with his wife Helene, who then contacted WRH to arrange a visit with the kids by her famous husband.

“It turned out really well. They said they watched it and loved it and that they were talking a lot about it,” said Paul McCann, an educational co-ordinator with the unit who came in for a bit of friendly workplace ribbing after first proposing the Hadfield invitation last spring.

“The kids are really excited,” said Lisa Galbraith, a certified child life specialist with the unit.

McCann said that for the young patients, Hadfield’s visit will offer “a temporary reprieve from the experiences of living with cancer.”

More than 20 children, ages four to 16, participated in making the video which was produced, pro bono, by Windsor’s Media Street Productions. In it, the young cancer patients, their siblings and staff at the local cancer unit divulge through placards and signs what their hopes and dreams are. One tyke hopes “to be cancer free for life,” while a worker wants “to help these kids reach their dreams.”

Hadfield had been invited to visit Sept. 29, but couldn’t make it on that date.

The Hadfield visit is just one of several special events and activities — all with an aviation theme — planned locally during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. McCann said it’s also an opportunity to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the local unit, which is a satellite operation of London’s cancer centre.

The Sept. 18 kickoff will see members of the Canadian Forces Snowbirds aerobatic team flown in on to meet with local cancer patients in the pediatric unit. On Sept. 29, through the Canadian Historical Aircraft Association, current and recent patients will be given tours of local and visiting civilian and military aircraft, as well as be given the opportunity to take a plane or helicopter flight over the city.

The Hadfield visit to Windsor Regional, as well as the other events, will only be open to the young cancer patients and their families, organizers said.

There are currently 17 children receiving treatment at Windsor Regional’s third-floor pediatric cancer unit, with “many more” on follow-up visits. Galbraith said treatment periods range from six months to three years and longer and including chemotherapy, IV medication and blood work. Each year in Ontario, another 400 kids are diagnosed with cancer.

“They share visits between here and London,” Ursula DeBono, co-ordinator of the satellite unit, said of the local pediatric cancer patients. To show the kids it’s “not a scary place,” the unit is a place where those receiving treatment are kept busy with fun activities, “with the medical part worked into that,” said DeBono.

Hadfield’s most recent five-month stay aboard the International Space Station, the latter half as its commander, drew enormous global attention to space exploration and science with the Canadian colonel’s frequent Facebook postings (his page has almost a half-million likes) and tweets (almost a million Twitter followers).

A musical collaboration with Barenaked Ladies singer Ed Robertson called ISS (Is Somebody Singing?), videotaped while Hadfield floated inside the ISS, has had close to a million views on YouTube, while his space recording of a modified version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity has had almost 18 million YouTube views.

Forbes Magazine described Hadfield as “the most social media savvy astronaut ever to leave Earth.”

Hadfield, who retired in July after 35 years with the military and Canadian Space Agency, has one airport, two schools and one asteroid named after him. He’s the only Canadian to have ever received a Meritorious Service Cross as both a soldier and a civilian.

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